200 days to softball’s historic Olympic return at Tokyo 2020

200 days to softball’s historic Olympic return at Tokyo 2020
02/01/2021
Softball will have the honour to officially open the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on 21 July, being the first of 339 Olympic events to be contested.

Today marks 200 days to softball’s historic and much awaited Olympic return at Tokyo 2020. On 21 July 2021, the six qualified teams will take the field at Fukushima’s Azuma Stadium for Day 1 of the softball competition at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2020. Softball will have the honour to officially open the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, being the first sport to be contested in the next Summer Games. 

Six nations have earned an Olympic ticket and will compete in Tokyo 2020 for the gold medal: Australia (winner of the Asia/Oceania Olympic Qualifier), Canada (runner up in the Americas Olympic Qualifier), Italy (winner of the Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier), Japan (host team), Mexico (winner of the Americas Olympic Qualifier) and USA (2018 WBSC World Champion).

Just like the torch relay (which is set to begin on 25 March), the Tokyo 2020 softball competition will open in Fukushima as a symbol of recovery and resurgence 10 years after the devastating 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Japan’s second Summer Olympic Games is also expected to send a strong message of hope to humanity, being the first global sports mega-event to be held after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The six qualified teams will play each other during the Opening Round from 21-26 July. On 21 July 2021 at 9 am local time, Australia and Japan will officially open the Olympic Games playing the first Olympic softball contest in 13 years. At noon, USA will take on Italy for Game 2, while Canada will face Mexico at 3 pm to close the opening day. The first six games of the tournament will be held in Fukushima.

On 24 July, the day after the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony, the tournament will move to Yokohama Stadium for the last three days of the Opening Round. The top two nations in the final standings will play for the gold medal, while the third and fourth-placed teams will contest the bronze medal. Both medal games will be played on 27 July.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were originally planned for 24 July - 9 August 2020, before being rescheduled in light of the global coronavirus pandemic.


Read More: